What kinds of personalities do you find in private equity?
What personality and skills are needed to succeed in PE? What kind of people do you find at a typical firm?
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BSD
Does that stand for big swinging dick?
Inflated self worth above anything.
People are fine. Normal for the most part. But generally think they are much more important/valuable than they are. PE takes no talent.
I mean it takes effort to get an IB offer. I would think it takes even more effort to get a PE offer and survive.
Please expand on the takes no talent,
A lot of things don't take actual talent. Most just require hard work, the right attitude and personality, and a little luck.
I suppose having above-average intelligence is a talent. So it does take some.
But being an associate/VP at a PE firm, what are you doing? At the end of the day I think it faills into the "process-oriented stuff" bucket. In my opinion, if you're easily replaceable, it doesn't take much talent (I am easily replaceable in my current role, mind you, it's just life).
What is your definition of “talent” then if not just some combination of hard work, the right attitude, and some luck?
Essentially everyone is replaceable (can’t think of a single role / person that one couldn’t reasonably argue that they could be replaced) so I’m not sure this is really relevant.
You can't think of a single role or person that couldn't be easily replaced? In IB / PE, wouldn't this be the rainmakers with a rolodex of contacts? In quant funds, this could be anyone that invented a proprietary algorithm.
Agree with the intern here. Certain groups of quants can't be replaced. Certain hedge fund PMs can't be replaced. Certain BSD bankers & PE dudes can't be replaced due to their "name brand" and connections (and secrets). Elite pro athletes certainly can't be replaced. The best authors can't be replaced. The best artists (of any category) can't be replaced. Elite chefs can't be replaced. The list goes on. 99% of finance bros (and gals) CAN be replaced.
That said, you can make a HELL of a living in this industry, and there is nothing wrong with that, at all, just by having a great attitude, having above-average smarts, working your ass off, getting a little lucky from time to time (and being prepared for the opportunity when it presents itself), etc.
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